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Cover Me Impressed

With a focus on the 60's-90's music scene, CMI is a Paradiso for Lovers Cover Songs! Each post focuses on a particular song and provides its original and most popular recordings as well as covers versions. Patrons of CMI vote on the most deserving cover version, which will then live to compete again, battling other cover songs in a future post.

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This is covermeimpressed at its best: a cool song and three really good covers. I know that all of you who know me expect that I will automatically gravitate towards the Jam… and you’re right… most of the time. But I gotta say, even with their only-semi-audible vocals I’m going to give this one to Tommy Les Cappuccino & The Scarlettes, and for a few reasons. 1) None of these guys were even alive when the Jam did their cover back in 1980. So they had to discover the Small Faces all on their own. 2) Just how many Japanese Mod-revival bands are there in the world? 3) About 25 seconds into the song I was thinking, “Wow. These guys sound like a modern-day Who playing Summertime Blues.” Then at the 2-minute mark the guitarist in the middle finishes the song with a few Townshend-esque windmills, and I know that this band is definitely channeling The Who circa 1965. 4) That black and white, 3-pickup Rickenbacker guitar is very, very cool. 5) Just listen to that tone! Two guitars, bass and drums never sound better than this. This makes me which I were 25 again. Tommy Les Cappuccino & The Scarlettes all the way.

To answer point #2, A LOT! I waded through quite a few Japanese bands blasting through Get Yourself Together. I could have easily included only Japanese bands in the competition and if I had would have had many more than three great candidates for entry.

Pleased to see Small Faces on CMI today. I lifted the opening paragraph from their bio on Allmusic:

“Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. Outside Europe, all anybody remembers them for is their sole hit, “Itchycoo Park,” which was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range — but in England, Small Faces were one of the most extraordinary and successful bands of the mid-’60s, serious competitors to the Who and potential rivals to the Rolling Stones.”

Great band, and they are in my personal Hall. This isn’t among their best, but I appreciate the effort to provide “deep cuts” as so often happens on the site (as w/ Hendrix “Can You See Me”).

Mike Dennis, whom I had never heard, did an admirable job, but I rather suspect The Jam will do quite well with the Jam lovers who inhabit this site.

I always vote before looking at the poll results and reading comments. Yes, Doug, I would have bet you would be firmly in The Jam camp. Talent-wise The Jam are obviously in another stratosphere relative to the competition. Yet, I too voted for Tommy Les Cappuccino & The Scarlettes for many of the reasons you so expertly outlined (Although you left out a factor that I found critical in decision-making: starting at about the 45 second mark I thought it was way-cool that it looked and felt as though the lead singer might, at any given moment, swat you in the snott-locker with the neck of his guitar). That had to be a great show to be at.

And I agree with Kerry that Mike Dennis threw down a helluva rendition as well. His was the only version out of the many I observed to belt out the tune while not overtly trying to sound British. And his Americanized version worked well.

As for The Jam. They were really good. You guys should really get some of their material.